1. Technical Field
This invention relates generally to wet shaving devices, and more specifically to shaving systems having a safety razor in fluid communication with a base station having a reservoir, the base station being spaced apart from the safety razor.
2. Background Information
Many modern shaving implements, commonly known as wet shave or safety razors, include a disposable razor cartridge, releasably connected to a reusable handle. Other modern safety razors have a handle and a razor cartridge that are intended to be permanently coupled and disposed of as a single unit. The cartridge comprises a housing having at least one razor blade with a sharpened cutting edge disposed therein. The cutting edge can be rectilinear or the razor blade can comprise a foil having a plurality of apertures having cutting edges extending at least partially around perimeter thereof.
There have been many proposals to provide a safety razor with a dispensing system for delivering to the skin during shaving a shaving aid material, such as shave foam, shave cream or other lubricating fluid, or skin care materials that cleanse or otherwise care for the skin. The material is stored within a reservoir ready for use. The stored material can replace a customary shaving preparation or can be used in addition thereto. According to many of these prior proposals the reservoir is accommodated within the razor handle or clipped or otherwise attached to the outside of the handle. For many typical wet shaves (for a male user) it is desirous for about 12 ml or more of some particular shaving aid materials to be dispensed for each shave. If the shaving aid material is aqueous based it can have a Specific Gravity of about 1.0 thus for each shave about 12 g or more of shaving aid material is required. Thus to satisfy just one shave a reservoir should contain at least about 12 ml or 12 g of shaving aid material. It would be convenient for the shaver not to have to replace or refill a reservoir for every single shave and it would be more convenient for the reservoir to contain sufficient shaving aid material to satisfy several shaves. By simple arithmetic, for the reservoir to contain sufficient shaving aid material for 10 shaves it must contain at least about 120 ml or 120 g of shaving aid material. A satisfactory mass for a reusable razor handle can be about 20-40 g and this handle might occupy a volume of about 10-30 ml. A disposable razor can have a satisfactory mass of about 5-15 g and occupy a volume similar to a reusable razor handle. The reader of the present application will quickly understand that a reservoir, conveniently sized to provide shaving aid material for 10 shaves, is many times too large to be housed within a reusable razor handle. Furthermore, a reservoir attached externally to a disposable or reusable handle will be many times larger and heavier than the handle to which it is attached and the razor can become highly unwieldy in use.
Based on the foregoing, it is desirous to provide a shaving system having a wet shave or safety razor in fluid communication with a base station, spaced apart from the razor, by an umbilical. The razor will not be unwieldy in use. The base station includes a reservoir of shaving aid material that can be sized to accommodate sufficient shaving aid material to satisfy several shaves.